The Briefing on Private Banker International 

$117m

Wealth management platform Addepar has raised $117m in a Series E financing round to support its expansion plans.

The fundraising was led by growth equity firm WestCap Group, whose investment from its Strategic Operator Fund was led by WestCap founder and managing partner Laurence Tosi and WestCap partner Scott Ganeles.

Tosi has been sitting on the Addepar board for the past two years.

WestCap Group was joined by 8VC – the venture fund founded by Addepar founder Joe Lonsdale – as well as Sway Ventures in the funding round.

75%

A study from the WealthiHer Network has revealed that three quarters of all females surveyed struggle to understand the world of investments and lack financial confidence, whilst two thirds believe they are not financially savvy.

The largest of its kind in the UK, The Changing Faces of Women’s Wealth provides new insights into women’s wants and needs within wealth, business and finance.

In compiling the report, the global think tank surveyed over 2239 British men and women through interviews and online surveys, whilst building on existing knowledge from sources such as The World Bank and The Institute of Fiscal Studies.

650

French banking group Societe Generale has reportedly decided to lay off 650 people in its home market as part of its restructuring plan to cut costs.

The move will mainly affect the bank’s corporate and investment banking (CIB) division, the French business newspaper Les Echos reported.

The group will notify its employees regarding the same on 9 November 2020. The new cuts will affect most of its workforce in Paris.

The affected staff are mainly from the support functions such as back office, however, nearly 100 traders could be laid off as well, the report added.

£639m

US-based Waterfall Asset Management has agreed to acquire Alternative Credit Investments (ACI) in an all cash transaction valued at £639.2m.

Under the terms of the deal, each ACI shareholder will receive£8.70 in cash for each ACI share as well as an interim dividend of up to £12 per share for the third quarter of the year.

Commenting on the deal, ACI chairperson Simon King said: “The Board welcomes and unanimously recommends the Offer from Waterfall, which we believe is the best outcome for shareholders, providing liquidity and certainty.

Top 10 M&A legal advisers in Europe for Q1–Q3 2020 revealed

GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has revealed its league tables for top 10 legal advisers by value and volume in Europe for Q1–Q3 2020 in its report, Global & Europe M&A Review & Legal Adviser League tables’.

According to GlobalData’s M&A report, a total of 6,245 M&A deals were announced in Europe during the period.

There was a 19.9% decrease over 7,792 deals during the corresponding period in 2019. Deal value also fell by 14.8% from $575bn in Q1-Q3 2019 to $490bn in Q1-Q3 2020.

$1.8bn

German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse is set to acquire a majority stake in Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) for nearly $1.8bn.

As agreed, Deutsche Börse will acquire 80% stake in the company, while the remaining stake will be with the current management and Genstar Capital.

The transaction values ISS, which provides corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, at $2.275bn.

$2.7bn

Canadian wealth manager CI Financial has forayed into the New York market by agreeing to take full control of The Roosevelt Investment Group (Roosevelt).

The deal, whose financial terms were not shared, marks CI’s 12^th US RIA deal this year and its third deal in two weeks.

Recently, CI expanded its reach to Florida with the purchase of $1.1bn RIA Doyle Wealth Management.

CI recently also entered into an agreement to take a majority stake in Houston-based RIA Stavis & Cohen Financial that has around $570m in assets.

$1.2bn

Merchant Investment Management has taken a minority equity stake in Massachusetts-based independent wealth advisory business Baldwin Brothers to support its expansion plans.

Financial details regarding the deal were not made public.

Merchant head of enterprise growth strategies Jon Geller said: “Over its long history, Baldwin Brothers has continually served the evolving wealth management needs of individuals and generations of families in a comprehensive manner.

$500m

Guo Wengui, a Chinese businessman, has sued Swiss financial services firm UBS for the second time to claim a $500m loss.

According to a Bloomberg report, the billionaire businessman sued UBS in London for allegedly pressurising him to borrow funds to buy shares in the Chinese brokerage Haitong Securities.

The petition claimed that the Swiss firm called a margin call amid a challenging market situation in 2015 tanking his investment.

The businessman further alleged that he was not aware of the margin call clauses in the contracts.

71%

JPMorgan has raised its stake in its China securities joint venture (JV) to 71% from 51%, thereby becoming the foreign bank with the highest ownership interest in such a venture.

A stock exchange filing revealed that the bank raised the ownership by acquiring a 20% holding from Shanghai Waigaoqiao FTZ for CNY177.7m ($26.6m).

The plan to raise the stake in the JV, which reported a loss of CNY85.9m in 2019, was first announced in September this year.

At that time, it was also said that JPMorgan emerged as the only eligible buyer for the stake as other shareholders relinquished their rights for the acquisition.